Faith, Hope, and Love: The Story Behind My Name

Growing up with siblings named Faith, Love and Peace, I never imagined how deeply our names would shape my understanding of life and why, in the end, Love is truly the greatest of all.

There are things we cannot fully understand as children, truths that only reveal themselves when we grow, pass through the ups and downs of life, and walk the narrow paths of experience.

This is my true story.

In my family, our names carry a special meaning. My elder sister is Faith (እምነት), I am Hope (ተስፋ), my younger brother is Love (ፍቅር), and the youngest in our family, my sister, is Peace (ሰላም). As children, people were often amazed to hear our names spoken together: Faith, Hope, Love and Peace.

These three words are, of course, written in the Bible. But as a child, I thought the scripture was speaking directly about us, that our very names were recorded there. My mother often reminded us of 1 Corinthians 13:13 during our evening prayer times:

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Back then, I couldn’t understand why she always emphasized, “The greatest of these is love.” To my childish mind, it almost felt like she was favoring my younger brother! Only later in life, after years of experience, did I begin to grasp the deeper meaning.

I came to understand that without love, we are empty, no matter how much we have achieved or accumulated. The absence of love is what erodes human life across the world. It is the absence of love and compassion that fuels endless conflicts and the loss of precious lives.

Every day we hear news of wars, violence, and suffering. The root of it all is the lack of love. In its place, apathy and indifference have taken over, a loss of empathy for one another.

Love, however, is the antidote. It is the greatest of all because it is the one thing our world is most in need of.

Faith, hope, and love remain. But the greatest of these is love. How can we live that truth?